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Walden: Chapter 7 Notes (Plot (During his first summer, Thoreau spends a…
Walden: Chapter 7 Notes
Plot
During his first summer, Thoreau spends a lot of his time tending and farming his beans, he had come to love his beans even though it was a lot more than he wanted
Thoreau's beans symbolize his hard labor, his happiness while hoeing the beans represent the strong connection that Thoreau has formed with nature, it is also possible that Thoreau is happy with his beans because it proved that he wasn't lazy like some criticized him of and it proves that Thoreau can be self-reliant, one of the belifs of Transcedentalism
As Thoreau works by tending his crops, he finds evidence of previous civilizations, Indians, and of pervious farmers
Despite Thoreau claiming that society is too busy worrying about obtaining unnessasary luxuries that society deems neccessary for success, Thoreau finidng traces of the indivduals before him in the soil proves that society and nature still remains linked and connected
Society
When the birds sings, Thoreau is pleased by the sound, however when Thoreau hears the noise of other people, he describes it as the "annoying buzzing of bees" next to his ears and is relieved when the noise goes away
Though Thoreau previously claims that he enjoys company and "loves" society, he continues to make society seem like a burden to nature, only causing trouble like unwanted noise, while he sees nature as something so great that it can't be anything but a blessing; so Thoreau may "love" society, however its imperfections cause his to love nature more
Thoreau criticizes how society only view nature as a source of profit in contemporary society, while he admires how ancient civilizations had festivals and ceremonies to celebrate the greatness of nature
Thoreau believes that individuals should recognize the beauty, power, and greatness of nature and think of it as something more valuable then just a source of profit
Planting/tending beans
Sometimes nature would help Thoreau with his beans, like when it rained and proved Thoreau's beans with the water that they need and good soil, however, sometimes nature would negatively affect Thoreau's beans, like worms that ate his crops and cold days
Even though Thoreau's crops are sometimes damaged by nature, making it seem like nature was against Thoreau, he could never get angry even if all his crops were destroyed since the events that destroyed his beans were all natural, and Thoreau can't be mad at nature, but instead he is grateful for it
Thoreau would not use fertilizer, but instead trusted in nature to produce his beans, he also woke up early everyday just to be able to hoe his crops barefoot, before the sun made the floor too hot for Thoreau's feet, which many farmers advised against hoeing so early in the morning, but Thoreau did not care about what they said
Thoreau did not want luxuries, such as fertilizer or shoes, to get in-between his connection with nature; perhaps Thoreau did not use these luxuries, that he believed were not necessary, because he wanted to prove that he can plant beans and survive without unnecessary luxuries, which he in fact did accomplish
Thoreau's beliefs
Thoreau believed that hard labor benefits the soul, also that it was important that he did not get any help with his beans from any human nor animal since the long time he spent with the crops allowed him to get more familiarized with the crops
This is yet another example of Thoreau being self-reliant, a Transcendentalist belief, this also proves that Thoreau believes that hard work is proof of self-reliance because the only way not to go through hard labor is if someone else is doing the work for you, meaning that you are forced to rely on another individual other than yourself
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